Final essay: The Toxicant of the Year Award

In lieu of the final exam, you are required to write an essay based on 6 (for undergraduate students enrolled in BIOL4000) or 8 (for graduate students enrolled in BIOL6000) original articles in ecotoxicology.

Although you will write the essay at home, we will still meet on the scheduled day of the final exam for a discussion group. I will collect your essays during this time. Absolutely NO late entries will be accepted (not even an hour late), so make sure that everything is printed out and ready to submit at least a day in advance of the final test.

The final essay should be not exceed 6 pages. I expect an average length of this write up to be 4.5-5 pages. List of references should be provided but is not included into the page count. Use at least 11 pt font, single or 1.5 spaced. Please make sure that your assay is not just a simple description of 6 or 8 separate articles but a complete coherent story.

For the essay you will need to:

1. Select a contaminant which you think is of an outmost current importance for the environment (e.g. cadmium, mercury, TBT, PAHs, PCBs, atrazine, DDT, etc.). It may or may not be the contaminant, which we covered in the class, but it must be currently considered a serious environmental concern. Consult the EPA webpage for the list of important contaminants if in doubt. http://www.epa.gov/epahome/topics.html

2. Select and read 6 (BIOL4000) or 8 (BIOL6000) articles published in or after 1999 which discuss mechanisms of action of this toxicant and/or ecological consequences of exposure to this toxicant. At least 3 of your selected articles should concern non-mammalian models (well, it's OK if it's seals or polar bears, but it shouldn't be humans, rats, mice or mammalian cell cultures).

3. Write an essay which discusses ALL of the following points:

    1. What are the sources of your chosen contaminant in the biosphere (include natural and anthropogenic sources as appropriate).
    2. Why is this contaminant important (what is known about its effect on human, animal or plant health and on human or wildlife populations).
    3. Explain the fate of the contaminant in the biosphere (general routes of uptake, transformation and elimination). Does it bioaccumulate or biomagnify?
    4. Describe molecular and cellular mechanisms of toxicity of this contaminant (known or suggested). Which consequences it can have for the whole-organism health and physiology?
    5. Propose a solution how you can limit the exposure of human and wildlife populations to this contaminant. Suggest methods of the toxicant containment or clean-up and/or environmentally friendly alternatives.

You essay should include information and references to all the original articles you've read on the topic but it also may include additional sources. You should properly describe the findings and conclusions of each paper you have read in more than one sentence. Do not forget to properly cite all used sources! Correct citing format is a part of writing in the discipline, and points will be taken for not using citations or their incorrect use. Please consult ANSI citing standard or ask me if you have any questions about it.

Based on your essay, I will choose 3 papers which make the best argument for the importance of a particular contaminant to the environmental health of wildlife and/or humans. The winner will receive 10 bonus points, and 2 runners-up of the "Toxicant of the Year" Award 5 points each. With their permission the essays will be posted on the Ecotoxicology website (with or without the authors' name depending on their wishes).